


The Jealousy Plan (and How it Backfires)

by TraintrackHobo



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, If You Squint - Freeform, Jealousy, M/M, implied dwalin/thorin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-29
Updated: 2014-03-29
Packaged: 2018-01-17 11:57:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1386772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TraintrackHobo/pseuds/TraintrackHobo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bofur is jealous—and that’s not all there is to it. </p><p>He is jealous, and it isn’t a simple jealousy like a young dwarven lass might have over the fact that there is another out there with a beard much finer than her own. No, it is a painful kind of jealousy. The type that knots in his stomach, stabs at his heart, and sets fire to any sensible thought that might have once flitted through his mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Jealousy Plan (and How it Backfires)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gambitsgeekyprincess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gambitsgeekyprincess/gifts).



> This was written as per request by user gekkyandkind on Tumblr and was edited by my amazing beta, HungryHufflepuff. Thank you very much! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

“Are you sure it’s going to work?” Fili hisses from where he sits next to his brother. Across from them sits Bilbo and Bofur, chatting idly while they eat. Every now and then, when Bilbo looks away, Bofur’s gaze will linger on him longer than needed, and his eyes will soften ever so slightly.

Kili is absolutely sure that it’s going to work.

“Yes, I’m sure,” he says when Bilbo looks up, catches Bofur staring, and the two of them turn as red as Uncle Thorin when he is truly angry. For a moment he thinks they don’t need the plan—but only for a moment, because Bilbo get’s up with a hasty excuse that he needs to clean his bowl, leaving Bofur to stare wistfully after him.

He is absolutely positive their plan is going to work. It has to, and he tells Fili so.

“Alright,” Fili finally says after watching the exchange, a mischievous grin growing on his face.

  


\---

Bofur is jealous—and that’s not all there is to it.

He is jealous, and it isn’t a simple jealousy like a young dwarven lass might have over the fact that there is another out there with a beard much finer than her own. No, it is a painful kind of jealousy. The type that knots in his stomach, stabs at his heart, and sets fire to any sensible thought that might have once flitted through his mind.

Bofur is jealous because there are currently two dwarven princes hanging off the neck of a certain burglar whom he has harbored secret feelings for quite a while.

Of course, he has no right to be jealous, really, considering that he has not told said burglar of his feelings. Bilbo is not his, and of that he is perfectly (and painfully) aware.

And yet, while he watches Kili lean in and _nuzzle_ himself against Bilbo’s shoulder, he cannot help the painful leap his heart gives, nor can he help the way the knot in his stomach binds itself even tighter, ready to spring apart any second with just the slightest of prompting.

While Bofur is caught up in his own whirlwind of uncharacteristically dark thoughts, across from him looking (and feeling) very uncomfortable and agitated is one Mr. Bilbo Baggins.

“Will you _stop!_ ” Bilbo says for the umpteenth time, wriggling irritably between the two dwarven princes.

Fili and Kili only laugh loudly, as if they are trying to draw attention – and it works because Bofur along with the rest of the Company are now watching them – and squeeze Bilbo tighter. He is left wondering, not for the first time, why Thorin has not yanked them off of him by now like he usually does.

One glance over at where the dwarf should be sitting, and Bilbo has lost all hope at being saved, because Thorin is not there, and neither is Dwalin, who is usually either stuck to the former king’s side or sitting next to Ori.

Before Bilbo can think any harder about those two mysterious disappearances, there is the sound of something stomping loudly against the dirt. His gaze flicks over to the noise, and Bilbo watches with dismay as Bofur storms off.

Once the dwarf is out of sight, Fili and Kili release Bilbo almost immediatley.

“Well, that didn’t work out like we planned,” Kili says, staring off in the direction of Bofur’s departure.

“Not at all,” Fili agrees, scratching at his thick patch of facial hair thoughtfully.

“ _What_ do you mean?” Bilbo asks, though he already has a sneaking suspicion.

For weeks Fili and Kili had been poking fun at Bilbo about how Bofur had been staring at him “like a lovesick lass” from afar. No matter how much Bilbo had protested, saying that it wasn’t like that, that Bofur only thought of him as a friend, the young lads would not drop the subject.

“Well,” begins Kili, leaning in conspiratorially towards Bilbo. “We had this plan.”  

“We thought that if we made Bofur jealous enough, he'd tell you how he felt,” Fili says, finishing where Kili began.

“But he didn’t react how we thought he would.” Kili concludes, in the manner of a child explaining why he’d been caught doing something that he shouldn’t have, and didn’t understand why he had gotten in trouble for it in the first place.

“You—what—why—Oh, look what you’ve done now! _Bofur!_ ” Bilbo sputters, and leaps up off the log to run in the direction in which Bofur had walked.

 

When Bilbo finds Bofur, the dwarf is sitting with his back against a tree, staring at something invisible to Bilbo’s eyes. Bilbo approaches him cautiously, wary of the fact that his mood is dark. “Bofur,” he tries, laying his hand on the dwarf’s shoulder.

Bofur starts and shoots a sharp look at Bilbo before calming down. He offers him a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“’Ello, Master Baggins,” he says.

Bilbo tries not to take offense to the way the dwarf addresses him, even though he thought that he and Bofur had been way past formalities for a while now. Sighing heavily, he lowers himself slowly to the dirt so he can sit next to the dwarf.

“Look—“ he begins, but Bofur has already begun talking. Pursing his lips, Bilbo lets him finish.

“It’s all right,” he says, his voice tired and resigned, like he has given up on a battle he has not even attempted to fight.

Bilbo is startled into silence, gazing at Bofur with his beautiful blue eyes. They are bright and swimming with questions. Bofur has to force himself not to look away, but to meet them with the mingled green and brown of his own, because he has to look Bilbo in the eyes when he says this.

“I…I’ve fallen for ye,” Bofur blurts, and Bilbo must look as shocked as he feels because Bofur begins to talk more hurriedly. “I’ve fallen for ye, and I know ye don’t feel the same, but I want ye to know that I…I’m sorry fer how I acted earlier, stormin’ off and all. When I saw those two leanin’ off o’ ye like that I…I couldn’t take it. I know I have no right to be jealous, but I cannot help it, and I’m sorry. I know ye don’ feel the same way, an’—”

"Oh, drat," Bofur hears Bilbo say, and is pleasantly surprised when the little hobbit grabs the flaps of his hat and yanks him forward, pressing their mouths together in a quick and messy kiss.

When they are done and Bilbo pulls away, Bofur lets out a contented sigh, pressing their foreheads together. Most of his secret fears and worries have successfully been wiped away by that kiss. His eyes are doing that thing where they cannot seem to rest in one spot for too long, flicking all about Bilbo’s face. “I thought…” he begins, but Bilbo silences him with another, albeit more chaste, kiss.

“Of course I feel the same way,” Bilbo says, a twinkle in his sapphire eyes.

Bofur is smiling, and it is all moustache and dimples and teeth, and Bilbo loves it and takes it upon himself to tell the dwarf so, and if it is possible, Bofur’s grin grows broader. He pulls his hobbit in for another kiss, this one considerably less chaste than the last.

\---

Much later, Bilbo and Bofur return to where their camp is set up for the night, finding that most of the Company, save two mischievous dwarf lads who remained hidden in shadow, are asleep.

“Told you it would work,” Kili whispers, watching as Bofur moves his bedroll right next to Bilbo’s.

“I know,” Fili replies, grinning when Bofur slings his arm around the hobbit and pulls him close.

“Now, what’ll we do about Dwalin and Thorin?”

 

 

 


End file.
